such accounts, together with one complete set of vouchers, to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Foreign Department, as soon as possible after the termination of each year, taking care, whenever you may be prevented from forwarding the same, immediately to explain the causes of the delay. III. You will take vouchers for your disbursements in duplicate, in order that you may retain the duplicate vouchers in your own possession. And when it shall happen that you are not able to obtain more than one original of any voucher, you will make out a copy for your own use, as well to enable you to answer any questions respecting the same, as to provide against the possible loss of the original forwarded to England; but you will take care that the originals of such vouchers accompany the annual accounts to be transmitted to the Secretary of State; and in cases in which it may not be possible to procure any vouchers at all, you will accompany the accounts with a full explanation of the circumstances which prevent you from complying with your instructions in this respect. IV. Your account is to be made up and verified according to the annexed form No. 1. It is to be kept in the currency of the country in which you reside, and the several receipts and disbursements are to be classed under distinct heads of service. Should you receive or pay money relating to any service for which a separate head is not provided in the annexed form, you will, of course, supply the omission. V. The charge or debit side of your account is to be supported by particulars of the bills drawn by you on the Lords of Her Majesty's Treasury, and by detailed explanatory statements of all moneys received by you from any other sources; excepting those for which you are accountable to the Commissioners of the Navy. The particulars of the bills must specify the rate of exchange at which the bills were negotiated, certified by two respectable merchants; the names of the parties in whose favour they are drawn; and the net proceeds in the currency of the country. VI. In support of the discharge or credit side of your account, you will transmit abstracts of each head of disbursements; together with the bills of particulars, the receipts of the parties, and such other documents as the circumstances of each case may require, for the purpose of showing the regularity of each transaction: and, where disbursements have been made by your Vice-Consuls, or other persons on your behalf, you are to require and produce accounts of particulars supported by proper vouchers, namely, receipts, or other documents referred to in any voucher, in all cases where it may be practicable; and you are to include in your accounts the whole of the salaries and expenditure, if any, of your Vice-Consuls, which you may have re E ceived special authority from the Foreign Department to reimburse to such Vice-Consuls. VII. You will distinguish the documents delivered in support of the charge part of your account by the letters of the alphabet, commencing each year with the letter A, and you will number the vouchers in the discharge consecutively, commencing each year with No. 1. VIII. You will transmit, together with your accounts, copies or extracts (certified by yourself to have been compared with the originals, and found correct) of all instructions, letters, orders of the Secretary of State, or approvals of the Lords of the Treasury, which may be connected with any expenditure made by you, or with any special allowances granted or paid by you or by your Vice-Consuls; but in cases where such authorities apply to a description of expenditure occurring more than once in your accounts, it will be sufficient, after having in the first instance forwarded certified copies as above directed, to refer in every subsequent similar payment to the original authority in question. IX. Whenever you may be called upon to exercise your discretion in making any special payments for which it may not be possible for you to obtain the previous sanction of the Secretary of State, you are strictly enjoined to lose no time in submitting the circumstances for his approval; and you are to transmit a certified copy of such approval with your annual account. X. When your accounts are transmitted to the Treasury by the Secretary of State in conformity to the provisions of the Consular Act, they will be forwarded to the Commissioners for auditing the Public Accounts, by whom they will be examined; and you are desired to bear in mind that no item of expenditure will be passed by that Board, unless the payment shall have been previously authorised, or subsequently sanctioned by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, or by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. You will, therefore, be attentive in forwarding regularly the necessary authorities with your accounts. RELIEF OF BRITISH SUBJECTS. XI. The abstract of disbursements for the relief of distressed British subjects, which is to accompany your account, is to be made out according to the annexed Form, No. 2. XII. You are desired, in granting such relief, to confine yourself as much as possible to the expenses attending the forwarding to their own country, by the first convenient opportunity, of such British subjects who may be destitute, and who may apply to you for that purpose, or who may be delivered over to you by the local authorities ;and to such further expenses for their subsistence as may be abso lutely necessary, until such opportunity of forwarding them home may occur. In case of the refusal of the party applying to you, to avail himself of such opportunity, you will (excepting in cases of absolute necessity) refuse all further assistance from that time;-and, in sending the parties home you will endeavour, in every instance, to make a final arrangement and payment of the whole of the expenditure to be incurred up to the time of the arrival of the individual in this country, so as to avoid the necessity of bills being drawn for passage-money, or subsistence, by the captain of the vessel, or by a merchant at the outport in England on the arrival of the vessel, it being desirable that the whole of the expenditure incurred in these respects should, if possible, be included in your account. XIII. You are not, excepting under the most urgent circumstances, to grant casual or occasional relief to British subjects employed as artificers and servants, or otherwise domiciled abroad, and not intending to return to their own country. In granting relief to persons of this description, you will be held responsible for confining yourself to cases where the parties would be otherwise left absolutely destitute of support, and for limiting the relief to a bare provision for their immediate subsistence. You will also make it a condition of granting such relief, that the party is not to apply to you a second time, and you will make the best arrangements in your power to prevent the possibility of a repetition of such relief becoming necessary. In every instance, also, in which you may have considered yourself justified in granting any pecuniary assistance to British subjects, otherwise than for the purpose of their immediate return to their own country, you will report the circumstances of the case to the Secretary of State in the explanatory letter which will accompany your annual account. XIV. In support of the advances which you may make under the provisions of the 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th sections of the Act,* the production of the order of the Secretary of State for the payment of the money will be indispensable, together with the receipt of the treasurer, trustees, or other persons duly authorised to receive the same; and you will also transmit, together with your annual account, an account (also in duplicate) for a corresponding period, of all sums contributed or raised for the purposes specified in the above clauses of the Act, signed by such trustees, or other competent persons, and approved by yourself. With respect to the application of the moneys raised under the above Act, it is presumed that the disbursements will not in general be made by yourself, but by the trustees, etc., of the subscription fund; and as the propriety of the charges under this * Vide Appendix. head will be best ascertained by yourself on the spot, which you are required carefully to do, you will not be expected to annex to your accounts the receipts and under-vouchers relative to this head of expenditure. It will be sufficient for you to inclose a detailed statement of the particulars of the same, with a certificate from yourself annexed thereto, to the effect that you have examined the whole with the vouchers in the hands of the trustees, and that you believe the account to be correct. XV. You will be allowed to charge the expense of such postage only as may arise from your communications with the Audit Office, on the subject of your accounts; and you are required to certify, at the foot of the abstract in which any charge of this description is contained, that the amount has been actually paid by you, and that the letters or packets in respect of which the charge has arisen, were all on the public service, and arising out of such communications as are above mentioned. XVI. Consuls will be allowed to charge a commission of 21 per cent. on their expenditure, provided they do not receive any salary or allowances in respect of their appointment, other than the fees which they are authorised to take pursuant to the fourth section of the Act; but no commission will be allowed to those Consuls who receive a salary, excepting such commission as they are allowed to charge in their accounts with the Navy Board. XVII. As it is intended that the Consuls shall be the sole accountants to Government, and that the whole of the expenditure within their jurisdiction shall pass through their hands, you will instruct your Vice-Consuls not to draw bills upon the Treasury (by which they become separate accountants). At the same time, you must endeavour to avoid introducing into your account for any year, payments made by your Vice-Consuls in any former year, making such arrangements with them as to their drawing upon you for their salaries or otherwise, and also as to their sending in their accounts to you, as will enable you to include the whole of their expenditure for each year in your own account for that year. Foreign Office, 1846. at FORM No. I. in Account Current with the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury. From 1st January, 184, to 31st December following. To proceeds of my Bills on their £ s. d. (Currency.) 184 We, being two of the principal Mer- , do hereby Cr. (Currency.) |